


Batman and Robin, Partners

by Ferith12



Series: Partners [5]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: But he's still Dick, Dick is messed up, Gen, Sort of AU?, Tragic backstory does not equal not happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 09:03:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6188419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would make Batman decide it's okay to have a nine-year-old join him in crime fighting?  My answer: a very messed up Dick Grayson.  And a Bruce Wayne who sucks at being a parent, and therefore tries to be the next best thing.  Batman and Robin are partners, not mentor and sidekick, not father and son, and they are the greatest partners the world has ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Batman and Robin, Partners

Batman wasn’t Robin’s dad.

That’s what everybody seemed to assume. They didn’t realized how young Batman was. Batman was only fifteen years older than Robin was, and while that meant that he was technically old enough to be Dick’s parent Bruce was in no way emotionally equipped to be a father.

Robin wasn’t Batman’s sidekick.

That’s what everyone called him, the first sidekick. That’s what all the newspapers called him. But that wasn’t how Batman thought about it, and it wasn’t how Robin thought about it, never had been. Bruce honestly had no idea what he was doing when he took in Dick Grayson. All he knew is that he had to save him, because it was his fault. 

It was Batman’s fault that the Dick Grayson hadn’t been able to run off free on the streets of Gotham, probably to wander back home to the circus in the morning. Or the Circus could have found him. Haley’s was good at finding lonely children.

It was Bruce’s fault that Haley’s hadn’t been able to gain custody of him and the boy was left to Gotham social services and dumped into Juvie. Or, as it was better known by terrified street kids, Mini Arkham, the anti asylum, because no one who got put in there came out again sane.

It was Bruce’s fault the poor innocent kid was in that mess to begin with, and so Bruce had to save him. He had never imagined that Dick would even find out about Batman, let alone become Robin.

That all began when Batman had returned to the bat cave to find Dick standing there, posture straight, eyes steady, with an expression that was way, WAY too serious. And Batman had just stood there in shock.

And then Dick had said, firmly, almost emotionlessly in a way that was so unlike him, “I’m going after Zucco.”

And Batman wanted to protest, to say something, but before he could, Dick went on.

“I know what you’re going to say. I’m too young, it’s too dangerous. But you’re wrong. I’ve seen things I’m pretty sure even you haven’t. I know over a hundred different ways to kill a person with a razor. I’ve hurt people and I’m good at it.” he paused for breath, and maybe he expected Bruce to interrupt him at this point. But Bruce, The Batman, was still too much in shock. So Dick continued.

“You can tell me I can’t do it. You can yell at me and lock me up if you want, I’ll still get out. I can get out of pretty much anywhere. And… that’s the man who killed my PARENTS. So I’m GOING to get him. It’s just,” Here something about him shrunk and his lip trembled and those huge, bright, expressive eyes of his welled with tears and he didn’t look too old any more. He looked young. Adorably, achingly, far, far too young, and he whispered, “I know that if I go out there by myself I’ll kill him. I-I don’t want to be a killer, Bruce.”

And Batman was still in shock and he had no idea what was going on in this situation because everything was just so strange and WRONG. But he knew what to do, for once he knew just the right thing to say. And walked up to Dick and said, “All right then, Chum. We’ll get him together.” 

And thus began the partnership of Batman and Robin.

But the thing is they were partners. Batman was obviously the senior partner, but they were still partners, not mentor and sidekick, not father and son. And sure, Batman taught Robin stuff, Batman felt responsible for him, and Robin was always, always trying to be good enough, trying to please Batman, even in some respects ( though definitely not ALL) to be like him. But the thing was, from the very beginning, when Dick had stood in the bat cave, so brave and so scared and so determined to hunt down his parents’ killer yet so desperate not to become a monster in the process, Batman respected him. And wasn’t that amazing. Batman hardly respected anyone. He believed or pretended to believe, (No one was every really sure which it was, it wasn’t really something that batman himself gave much thought to) that everyone else was at least to some extent his inferior (and for the most part with good reason) and yet he gave an nine year old his respect. It was crazy, but it was Robin, and really Robin was the boy wonder, he deserved it.

Those were the early days. They were happier times, and also more dangerous. Gotham itself was darker in those days. Yeah, believe it or not, Batman and Robin did make a difference. But Batman was still young then, young and naive and the darkness of Gotham still hadn’t swallowed up the bat completely, and Robin could still make him smile. In those days, as always, despite all that had happened to him, Robin was a light. And in those days Batman held on to the light and was, just a bit, illuminated by it. And Robin in turn hid in the comforting darkness of the Batman. 

But in those days Batman was still young and still human and he still made mistakes. The Joker was just beginning too, he wasn’t quite so insane, wasn’t quite so deadly, and he did not know how to anticipate the Bat and always, always win, but the bat was new too, he did not know how to anticipate the joker, he did not know how to protect his Robin, and he hadn’t failed often enough to try so desperately. He respected Robin. They did everything together, partners.

And so there were a lot of close calls. So many close calls. But they were together in that too. Batman was always saving Robin, and Robin saved Batman almost as often. 

And most of the time it wasn’t a matter of who saved who. Most of the time it was like they were one person, working to survive in unity, working together seamlessly, watching each other’s backs. They were Batman and Robin, partners.

**Author's Note:**

> The writing of this is kind of really pathetic. I'm sorry. My only excuse is that I wrote this for NaNo during a word war, so it's pretty much just stream of consciousness. I'll edit it sometime if I have a chance. 
> 
> As far as this 'verse goes, are you interested? Does it make sense? Do you want to know more?   
> (I'll write more whether you want me to or not, but I like input anyway. :) )


End file.
